Rules!

[Joe Barry]

Awwww schucks you guys got me. One night while in the middle of some fields about 1 in the morning I not only had a chase vehicle but I had to stop once he turned the siren on becuase the blue and red flashes of light reflecting off the field was not enough. Needless to say he would not help me fix my trailer lights and told me to get my piece of shit out of his county. I think alot of stuff may not always be as we see it. I know one night we sat at a convenience store for probably two hours while some guy went home to show us an invention he wanted to patent. ANd while he was doing that we all sat there and watched out other buddy reinstalling axles in his car because they kept popping out. So if someone would of showed up they probably would of said Im sure as hell glad I didnt travle with those guys. Anyway I just thought I would put in my two cents.

[MoparBilly]

darn it, Joe...Don't leave us hanging...What was the invention?

[Joe Barry]

darn it, Joe...Don't leave us hanging...What was the invention?

LOL it was some sort of evac system that bolted to a valve cover. The problem was he was preaching to a couple guys that gave him such a bad time Im not sure why he kept going. I forgot to mention the local fast guy that kinda surrounded us making passes and doing burnouts on all the streets around us unti he got brave enough to stop. Then he proceeded to tell Dru (I think a low nine second sleeper) that his car was just like his. It was quite amusing because it took him a good 15 minutes and probably a half dozen passes down the side streets to approach us.

[TheSilverBuick]

Think you'll hear more banjo's playing this year or less?

[bulletproof]

the road trip this year is gonna be interesting....

[ksj2]

Think you'll hear more banjo's playing this year or less?

Im going to say "Yes"

[MoparBilly]

Think you'll hear more banjo's playing this year or less?

Well, if you get lost on those 2-lanes in Arkansas, trying to get from Memphis back to Tulsa...You may hear FAR more than last year!!!

[CDMBill]

Kind of a teaser really. We were so far out of the mix we just didn't see any of the chase car stuff. I do recall seeing a lot of 'skilled help' materialize in the pits around some cars in previous years at multiple tracks so I know it happens one way or another.

It'll be interesting to see how that can be sorted to separate traditional spirit of Drag Week racers helping each other from bogus entries with crews and spares that happen to be in other cars. God, it would suck to be those people, how they look at themselves in the mirror without throwing up is beyond me.

[Orange65]

Last second quarterbacking- what do you think they can do to stop "pit crews" from helping? What about assigned travel buddies? A lottery for who you travel with? Any ideas?

I figure David will let us know today or tomorrow what will happen.

[BBR]

moparman63 and I have been talking, and I have no idea what they can do without screwing up the whole spirit of the event. Forced pairings will leave a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths.

[bulletproof]

i bet the rules are in the april issue and they wont release them until it hits the shelfs...

[JeffMcKC]

My standard would be that, Helping is great!

But

It crosses the line when you bring "help" in a different car, that helps you at every stop along the way, it kind of defeats the intent of the event at least to me.

But if a Drag Week guy needs help along the way there is nothing wrong with stopping to help, it just should not turn into preforming tasks he cant at every stop as part of a plan............

[nesabo]

It is one of those "grey" areas. I see Walt Reynolds busting his butt at every track. So between my runs I go over and help put his slicks on and help pull the exhaust then help load up the trailer at the end of the day. Just cannot sit and watch him exhaust himself while I drink a water. Would limiting it to just fellow drivers, not the other people in the participants car. Drivers have different colored bands then the "co-pilots", so it should be relatively easy to see the Support crew.

My car will probably die in Tulsa day one, so may not be an issue for me.

[Joe Barry]

Last second quarterbacking- what do you think they can do to stop "pit crews" from helping? What about assigned travel buddies? A lottery for who you travel with? Any ideas?

I figure David will let us know today or tomorrow what will happen.

Travel buddies would be cool as long as they were stuck in the car and couldnt bail on you. We lost one person on the very first day over a simple problem. Then after a certain incident on the way to Amarillo I lost my passenger for the rest of the trip. I know we were exhausted at the end as well as many people. The last night I really could of used a passenger. I started wearing eplugs and headphones somewhere along the way once the rearend was howling so bad you couldnt concentrate. The droaning that went through the car would put you to sleep. At one point I woke up and I thought whats that idiot doing on my side of the road, well I was the idiot. Within a short period of time I was following my buddies and I watched as his car started to drift not a thing you can do but watch ,first the two right side wheels off the pavement then the left, obviously he woke up and of course jerked the wheel and was back on the road, luckily there was no mailboxes or poles at that point. Needless to say we were wide awake the rest of the way but I had alot of time to think about it and if I had needed to call for help I didnt even know where I was because I was following him. I had many different people ride with me on different legs of the trip usually between gas stops. I would say they thought it was way cooler to ride before the actually had the ride. I cant wait for this year . I learned alot of what to do and what to really bring for the trip.

* The second day at Drag Week I had to do something that really never set right with me. We worked all afternoon to fix my transmission(thank goodness Larry had the parts)and I thought we were the last ones at the track along with the Hot Rod guys. Well after setting the car down for the third or fourth time to get Hot Rod the best video here comes the gentleman with the bitchin Rat Rod that was on the cover of the magazine last month. He had a broken rearend and had no parts. I would of did anything to help him if it was possible, however he said he was done and needed to get back to Topeka. We left the guy there at the track and it sucked. I am a people person and it was against my nature to do that, yes he wasnt in the middle of no where but you still want to help.

[lun40119]

If you use common sense it is pretty easy to see what is going on. There shouldn't have to be rules about this stuff. If the people doing it think they are getting away with it.........jokes on them!!!

If I get loaded up before Doc......I am going to help him finish up, and I would expect the same from him. If Jeff is running late, and needs help.............Ill be there helping, and I would expect the same.